Peggy’s Cove

Head down the Atlantic coast from Cape Breton towards Halifax. A long drive and we are a bit over it after arriving into town. We look for a place to stay but options are limited. We decide to bust out the tent again in a campground a little farther south. Near the popular Peggy’s cove lighthouse. The lighthouse somewhat famous as it is quite picturesque plus it is also infamous as being near the site of a significant Swiss Air plane crash.

The campground is 10km south of the lighthouse and home to 140 million year old granite boulders. We set up camp for the night with a few large RV’s in the camp. RV’s very anti-social as you never come across the occupants who are happy remaining in their self contained castle. Us meanwhile are out making a fire and boiling food in the open air. Somehow we prefer this style.

While we are still debating the pros and cons of the traditional camping vs RV camping the heavens open and we duck inside the tent as the rain gets heavier. At 2am the ‘great storm of 2005’ commenced with us in the middle of it with only a thin sheet of nylon between us and the tempest surrounding us.

As the lightning increased we thought being exposed in the field wasn’t the best idea so we made a dash for the car and for some reason thought driving nearer to shelter was required. In the dark and rain and wind we tried to scale a near vertical grass hill in our PT cruiser. After this failed we just stayed put and put the seats back and pulled up our sleeping bags and tucked in feeling a bit safer than we were.

Waking in the morning, the storm cleared, we assess the damage. Not much despite everything being wet. Yet the morning brings bright sunny weather so most things dry easily. We head back to Halifax and treat ourselves to a hotel room. A rather unique BnB with a round bed and quite a lot of french trimmings, slightly unnecessary.

Endless lighthouses on the Atlantic Coast of the Maritimes.

We decide to split up and do our own thing. Allison heads for the hairdressers. I head to the old fort and wander around town. Eventually we meet up back at the maritime museum which has a particular claim to fame. The titanic sunk just off the Nova Scotian coast and many of the recovered relics are housed in this museum.

Finish the night with a mexican feast and then mistakenly watch a Reese Witherspoon movie before heading to a circular bed to try and get a normal night sleep for a change.

The morning has us headed back to Moncton to drop off the hire car and complete our tour of the maritimes. Onwards to the US of A aboard a long distance bus bound for Boston.

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About The Author

Ever since venturing out the back gate into the bush as a kid, I've had a curiosity to escape and explore as often as I could. It's fair to say that my curiosity has continued to grow instead of fade as the years go on. It eventually came time to turn a few scribbled notes into some legible stories and travel tips for anyone with a similar curiosity as me.